ArmInfo.We should not talk about the weakening of bank secrecy when there are de facto filters and a framework providing for clear legal regulation of the issue. This was announced on April 16 by Martin Galstyan, candidate for the post of Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, emphasizing in this vein that he sees no threats to the stability of the financial system.
"My research and the results of consultations with our lawyers about the Bank Secrecy Law, which is ordered by the President of the Republic of Armenia to be in the Constitutional Court, has clear legal regulations that set out a list of actions that will allow you to start any procedures in this regard," he said . In particular, Galstyan explained that the available filters provide for the submission of a petition by the prosecutor general or his deputy to the court, evidence on their part that the disclosure of bank secrets is the cornerstone in solving this or that issue, and that applying to the court is the last resort. In this regard, he continued that the disclosure of bank secrets is possible only upon receipt of the relevant permission from the court.
At the same time, Galstyan urged not to "chew" this topic, since such conversations can cause some harm to the system.
Note that in September last year, amendments and additions to the laws on "Criminal Procedure" and "On Bank Secrecy" were approved, providing for some disclosure of banking information. According to previous legislation, investigators and prosecutors could obtain bank account information only with respect to suspects and accused. At the same time, the accounts of related parties were not subject to verification. As the then First Deputy Minister of Justice Rafik Grigoryan stated at that time, the regulation of the legislation in force at that time prevented the investigation of cases related to corruption risks, since often the investigation of corruption can be connected not only with these people, but also with people connected with them, and in some cases the evidence that is necessary to attract a person as an accused, inaccessible to the investigation due to bank secrecy.
The amendments lifted the restrictions, but at the same time, specific mechanisms of guarantees and restrictions were provided. In particular, a full list of crimes has been established for which a petition for disclosing bank secrets can be submitted, as well as control is provided by the prosecutor's office for the submission of the petition. In addition, the court must present a reasoned decision on the application, assess whether this is the only aspect and whether it is impossible to find out in other ways, as well as the possibility of notifying the person of the decision made and the possibility of challenging it.
As many experts said, the bill on the abolition of bank secrecy poses many threats to the banking system and is fraught with an outflow of capital from banking institutions of Armenia. The Central Bank of Armenia, in response, explained that these changes in no way cancel banking secrecy - they only clarify the list of data requested by court order.
